One local fisherman had a wet start to the herring season Thursday when his boat started taking on water in the Strait of Georgia.
But things "did go about as good as it can go," said Gord Gibb, officer in charge of the French Creek Coast Guard station.
"The boat was loaded with 20 tons of fish," Gibb said, "when he noticed he was taking water."
He said the seiner was probably already headed back to the marina, and was "a couple miles off" so he contacted the Coast Guard and ended up beaching the boat right beside the Lasqueti Island ferry dock where Coast Guard personnel were able to help him pump out the hold.
Local resident Wayne Duke was on the dock to take pictures of birds when he noticed the back of the boat below water level around 3:45 p.m. just before the Coast Guard arrived to begin pumping.
The water didn't get into the engine of the Elva MII and after about 40 minutes of pumping "we were able to manoeuvre it over to the fish plant so they could pump out the fish, so were were able to avoid any pollution," Gibb said.
"Everything worked out alright," he summed up.